If you're making an Ikat quilt along with us, I hope you have all your fabrics on hand to start sewing the quilt! My fabrics for this Jade version are all sourced from Fat Quarter Shop - prints, Moda Bella Solids and a plush Minky backing!

Fat Quarter Shop Jade fabrics. Stitched in Color.jpg

This quilt is for my teenage daughter, Aria, who didn’t want anything floral or fussy. She approved this assortment of mostly geometric fabrics, in her favorite blue-green colors. The teacup print was a fun discovery, since she’s totally a tea-drinker.

I added a few dusty shades and grays, just to give the quilt depth. You can find a partial list of my fabrics, along with links to buy, at the bottom of this page.

Last week I re-folded all my fresh, new fabrics and created a paper-based quilt organizer to map out my quilt. Now I’m ready to start sewing!

First I cut a bunch of Fabric C and D pieces, making tidy stacks of these sashing fabrics for future blocks. It’s nice to cut Fabrics C and D in bulk, to save time. To figure out how much to cut, multiple the cutting lists on page 5 of the Ikat quilt pattern by how many full, half or quarter blocks needed for your chosen size Ikat quilt.

With sashing fabrics bulk-cut, now it’s time for the fun stuff! Here’s my block map for my very first block. The Ikat diamond fabrics A and B are in the middle and the Fabric E selections are at each corner. Before sewing, I cut the required Fabric A and B pieces for a complete block. The fact that all these pieces are the same width makes for easy cutting!

First block sewing. Stitched in Color.jpg

Sewing an Ikat block takes time. These are big blocks, finishing almost 20” square! The sewing is all very straightforward, but you want to watch your seam allowances so that everything fits together nicely.

I sew with a slightly scant 1/4” seam - almost a true 1/4”, but not quite. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter if your blocks finish slightly smaller than the expected size, which will likely happen if you sew with a full 1/4” seam. So long as your block sizes are consistent (because your seams are consistent), the blocks will all fit together well enough.

My first block features a Ruby Star Society print called Purl Metallic Emerald Wanderlust. It’s probably my favorite print in the group, so no wonder I started with it!

Now I’ve sewn two full sized blocks and am working on my third! Since I’m sewing a twin sized Ikat quilt, I have quite a few blocks to sew. i’ll sew about 3 per week to finish the quilt over the course of 5 weeks. I like to pace myself with my sewing sometimes, especially when the project is a big one. What about you?

What are your sewing goals for Ikat or otherwise?

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